1. Field of the Subject Disclosure
The subject disclosure relates to pacemakers. In particular, the subject disclosure relates to pacemakers for conveying performance information of a cardiac pacemaker to an external device.
2. Background of the Subject Disclosure
Recipients of cardiac pacemakers are occasionally required to visit their doctors to check up on the performance of their installed pacemakers along with a general check up. The doctor uses devices that can communicate with a pacemaker inductively, i.e. without the need to intrude through skin or other tissues. The devices retrieve performance information from the pacemaker, including battery charge level and any errors in the software controlling the pacemaker. Such equipment is highly specialized, expensive to acquire and expensive to operate with a trained specialist. When not at a medical facility with such equipment and specialists, the pacemaker's performance cannot be remotely monitored. Any sudden onset of performance issues, such as a battery draining at an abnormal rate, may present a life threatening situation that is undetected until it is too late to take action.
Mobile devices, such as cellular telephones, have become a common tool of everyday life. Cellular telephones are no longer used simply to place telephone calls. With the number of available features rapidly increasing, cellular telephones are now used for storing addresses, keeping a calendar, reading e-mails, drafting documents, etc. These devices are small enough that they can be carried in a pocket or purse all day, allowing a patient to stay in contact almost anywhere. Recent devices have become highly functional, providing applications useful to business professionals as well as the casual patient.
Mobile devices are frequently used for sending and receiving messages. Such devices may, for instance, send basic text messages using Short Message Service (SMS) and enhanced messages using Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS). Unfortunately, nowadays, the number of abilities also allows mobile devices to introduce new malware propagation vectors such as SMS/MMS messaging and file transfers. MMS messages can embed text, audio, images and video. However, none of these messaging capabilities have been applied to cardiac pacemakers.
On a worldwide basis there are 3 million people with pacemakers now and it is growing by 600,000 per year and accelerating. Therefore, what are needed are improved devices, systems, and methods to collect and analyze information from a cardiac pacemaker.